Legal Protection of Faculty Members

Abstract

The Iraqi legislator has sought to regulate the work of universities in a way that guarantees the rights and duties of faculty members to achieve development in the scientific field. The focus on faculty members began in the nineteenth century due to the need for academic preparation to keep up with developments in scientific and educational fields. Most countries seek to issue laws that regulate the work of the public sector, including the rights and duties of public employees, but the legislator goes further by issuing special laws that regulate certain jobs, such as faculty members, who have unique characteristics due to their academic work, which plays an important and effective role in the educational process and community development. However, the current University Service Law No. 23 of 2008 and the Work Structure Instructions for Faculty Members No. 72 of 1993, as amended, have neglected to regulate the disciplinary and criminal aspects to provide effective legal protection for faculty members. Instead, these laws refer to general laws regarding this matter, which is a legislative shortcoming that needs to be addressed. The Iraqi legislator is urged to address this issue and regulate the legal protection provisions for this important group, similar to some other groups that have special laws to protect them, such as the Protection of Doctors Law No. 26 of 2013, the Rights of Journalists Law No. 21 of 2011, and the Protection of Teachers, Instructors, and Supervisors Law No. 8 of 2018. It is worth noting that the term "University Service Employee" was used for faculty members in Iraq in the University Service Law No. 23 of 2008, while the term "Faculty Member" was used in the Work Structure Instructions for Faculty Members referred to above, unlike legislation in other countries such as Egypt, Algeria, and Jordan, which used the term "Faculty Member". Therefore, both terms were used in this study according to the context.